<p>Hi, i'm a junior at a small highschool hoping to attend duke but i know that its probably a reach, my freshman year i had a 3.5 w gpa whih was really bad and i realized that going into soph and junior year having all a's and i so far i have around a 4.4 w gpa. I havent taken the sat's but they'll i've been studying every summer after freshman year, doing the tests on my own and will probably be at least near 2280.
My etracurriculars are pretty good i think, being an eagle scout, 2 yr emt and Office of emergency management, 120 hrs of community services at a down syndrome camp and a soup kitchen i've gone to since i was 12. Also, i started a club at my school that was a branch of my brothers group Students for haiti fundraising over 500 dollars.
My intended majors are either buisness, finance, or nursing.
In cross country and track, i will be able to be recruited and am going to talk to coaches of other colleges soon and hopefully duke if i'm able. I was just hoping to hear your opinions before i try. Thanks!</p>
<p>Your GPA and ECs seem pretty competitive, even without being a recruited athlete. If your times are good enough, the academics shouldn’t be a problem at any school in the country. The questions is, how fast do you need to be to get recruited? The only answer that has any meaning is the one coming from the coach. I wouldn’t hesitate to initiate email contact with the coaches from a wide selection of schools ASAP.
My thought, FWIW, is that somewhere under 4:14 in a 1600 (I’m assuming you’re a guy with the ‘Eagle Scout’ thing) or a 14:30 5K will put you on the recruiting radar at a school like Duke.</p>
<p>Also, don’t overlook D3 schools when you’re putting your contact list together. If your times aren’t quite at that level, you may find that your athletic talent, combined with your academics, could be a good fit at some very selective D3’s.</p>
<p>thanks for the reply, i havent ran spring yet but i should be around 4 15, do you know if that would qualify me for a scholarship or simply help me get in?</p>
<p>That’s great watters. Your question can only be answered by the coach , of course. I will say this - D1 track and XC programs are limited to 12.6 mens scholarships to cover the entire roster - that’s both sports, seniors down to incoming freshmen. So there are only about 3 scholarships that become available each year. So they tend to bring on a lot of kids with no money and slice up the 3 scholarships to give to their biggest roster needs.
I know a few kids that run (or did run) for a prominent ACC school and were brought on w/ no money but assured they would revisit the money issue after a season. Kids did well, scored some points freshman year but coach told them the team needs the money to bring on new recruits.
That’s why I really encourage you to look at some D3s - or Ivy League would be a great fit, IMO. No athletic $, but very generous need-based FA - not to mention a pretty good education :-)</p>
<p>14pwatters,</p>
<p>Your activities and ECs are very good…congrats I agree with EVERYTHING varska is suggesting. I would add the one thing that you really need to focus on right now is your SAT or ACT . So much of what you want to do athletically or academically is dependent on those scores. As a recruited athlete for D1, D1 ivy, D3, coaches are going to start asking about those scores in upcoming discussions. You could be discussing your college future from a position of strength if you score as well as you think you will. Guessing that they will be around 2280 for practice tests is fine, but actually doing it will open many doors. Best of luck, and follow Varska’s advice to look at many schools.</p>
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<p>Absolutely. Projections are all well and good, but the recruiting process won’t become serious until you have some hard numbers for the coach to evaluate.</p>
<p>Thanks i’ll get on that but you talked about the ivies and running there, what ivies do you think i could get into with my stats and how does the need based financial aid work?</p>
<p>If you maintain straight "A"s going forward and achieve your projected SAT score, you’ll probably be accepted by ANY college where the coach is willing to go to bat for you.</p>
<p>What Sherpa said. As for FA, check out the calculators on the Harvard and Princeton websites to give you a general idea of what you might expect. Generally speaking - for family incomes under 180 or so, the need-based award is probably better than any athletic $ you’re likely to get at a scholarship school for T&F.</p>
<p>But check out the rosters and some meet results and start compiling your (wide) list of schools…and get some real test scores under your belt…and did you finish that AP Calc homework yet? :-)</p>
<p>I agree with the above posters.</p>
<p>FYI as reference: My daughter had SAT’s of 2300, GPA 4.2 and was ranked 11th nationally in her track event in her recruiting class. Duke did not offer her athletic money–just need-based financial aid. The coach did say they could give her athletic money junior and senior year, with the amount depending on how she performed. Since their financial aid was not as generous as the Ivies and Stanford, she focused on those schools instead.</p>